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Clinical Stability of Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis does not Correlate with Intraoperative Stability

  • Clinical Research
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Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research®

Abstract

Background

The most important objective of clinical classifications of slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) is to identify hips associated with a high risk of avascular necrosis (AVN) — so-called unstable or acute slips; however, closed surgery makes confirmation of physeal stability difficult. Performing the capital realignment procedure in SCFE treatment we observed that clinical estimation of physeal stability did not always correlate with intraoperative findings at open surgery. This motivated us to perform a systematic comparison of the clinical classification systems with the intraoperative observations.

Questions/purposes

We asked: (1) Is the classification of an acute versus chronic slip based on the duration of symptoms sensitive and specific in detecting intraoperative disrupted physes in patients with SCFE? (2) Is the stable/unstable classification system based on clinical symptoms sensitive and specific in detecting intraoperative disrupted physes in patients with SCFE?

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed 82 patients with SCFE treated by open surgery between 1996 and 2009. We classified the clinical stability of all hips using the classifications based on onset of symptoms and on function. We classified intraoperative stability as intact or disrupted. We determined the sensitivity and specificity of two classification systems to determine intraoperative stability.

Results

Complete physeal disruption at open surgery was seen in 28 of the 82 hips (34%). With classification as acute, acute-on-chronic, and chronic, the sensitivity for disrupted physes was 82% and the specificity was 44%. With the classification of Loder et al., the values were 39% and 76%, respectively.

Conclusion

Current clinical classification systems are limited in accurately diagnosing the physeal stability in SCFE.

Level of Evidence

Level III, retrospective diagnostic study. See Guidelines for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Joseph M. Schwab MD for assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Inselspital, University of Bern, Freiburgstrasse, 3010, Bern, Switzerland

    Kai Ziebarth MD & Reinhold Ganz MD

  2. Department of Pediatric Surgery, Inselspital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland

    Kai Ziebarth MD & Theddy Slongo MD

  3. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, AKH Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Stephan Domayer MD

  4. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, MA, USA

    Young-Jo Kim MD, PhD

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  1. Kai Ziebarth MD
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  2. Stephan Domayer MD
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  5. Reinhold Ganz MD
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Correspondence to Kai Ziebarth MD.

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Ziebarth, K., Domayer, S., Slongo, T. et al. Clinical Stability of Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis does not Correlate with Intraoperative Stability. Clin Orthop Relat Res 470, 2274–2279 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-012-2339-y

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